


Glass Soul Cage

by GarbagePaisley



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angsty Sans, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gen, Jealous Sans (Undertale), Magic is Real, POV Alternating, POV Original Character, POV Sans (Undertale), Possessive Sans (Undertale), Reader-Insert, Reaper!Sans but not really?, Sick Character, baby bones, fairy tale, soulmate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2019-11-27 16:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18196586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarbagePaisley/pseuds/GarbagePaisley
Summary: At ten, you were diagnosed with cancer, fell in love, met Death, and lost your first love.At twenty-five, you were diagnosed with cancer, fell in love with Death, and found your first love.For the past fifteen years, monsters have been trapped under Mount Ebott. It just so happens that their resurfacing coincides with your cancer returning. Life isn't always fair, but perhaps having someone by your side will make it easier.





	1. Chapter One (Reader's POV)

When you were a child, you had this recurring dream that always started the same way:

You were deep in a forest, standing in the middle of a circular clearing. Around you were stands of trees so incredulously tall that they seemed to almost touch the sun that hung overhead. The same sun that you could feel it on your skin in the dream. And the sun was strange too. It was bigger than the sun that you experienced in the waking world. Everything was bathed in an ethereal white glow. The strangest part about the sun was that it filled you with an uncanny feeling that it was alive and watching you. The glowing ball seemed to vibrate with energy in a way that reminded you of the fairies in the story books you always fell asleep reading.

In the dream, there were birds too. There were so many of them, in the brightest, most vivid colors and they sang a beautiful melody as they swooped in and out of the clearing. When you told your grandmother about the dream later, it was hard to describe just how real it all felt as you stood there in the clearing, taking everything in. You felt warm and safe and protected.

_At first._

You remembered the very first time you had the dream - that feeling of wanting to explore more of the world your subconscious had created. But the more you had the dream, the more you dreaded taking even one step forward because you knew that the second you did, the birds would stop singing.

And, even though it had been there unnoticed the whole time, you suddenly realized that you’re in a cage with no escape. That safety you’d felt moments before melted away as your hands gripped the metal bars of the golden cage, and you started shaking it. Horror began to fill you as the bars grew rustier beneath your fingers. You’re overcome with a sense of dread as the sun seemed to flicker and dim.

You froze as you heard a rustling from the trees and though you didn’t know what was there, you knew to be afraid. It was dark, so dark, you suddenly realized. Your eyes were affixed to those trees because whatever was out there, it was getting closer. You tried again to shake the bars only to realize that you had no hands, no arms, no body.

You were simply a floating crystal in the shape of a heart.

And then you saw it. A hooded figure emerged from the forest and from beneath the black cloak, a skeletal hand stretched out towards you. Panic set in. Something bad was going to happen.

The cage door opened, but you couldn’t run. Instead, you just floated towards that outstretched hand. Everything hurt, your entire body… or heart… whatever it was. You could feel yourself fissure and crack as you floated forward, shards of glass hitting the forest floor, but you couldn’t stop moving towards that hand. Even as it crushed you. Even as it killed you.

You always woke up from the dream right before you broke completely. How many nights did you wake up in a sweat, almost convulsing from where you swore you could feel yourself still breaking. Those dreams always upset you so much that you spent days in the hospital afterwards.

Your parents weren’t superstitious people, nor were they spiritual, despite the fact that magic existed in the world. To them, you were simply a sick child with nightmares, despite the fact that the night that you first had that dream was followed by the day you were diagnosed with cancer.

You were 8 when the cancer first started making itself known. You remembered the weakness, the fatigue, but your illness went unnoticed by your parents. They weren’t bad people, but your family was poor and so work always took priority over a child’s complaints. By the time the doctors caught it, you were almost 10.

Leukemia, it was called. You didn’t know what that meant at the time, only that something was wrong with the spongy stuff inside of your bones and that you were sick. Very sick. Your treatment started right away but your parents couldn’t afford the time or money that went into all of that. Or maybe they just couldn’t handle it emotionally. Looking back, you couldn’t be sure and they weren’t around anymore to ask.

You were so lucky to have had your grandmother. There would never be another human soul as great as that woman, you were sure. She took you to every appointment, cooked for you, cared for you, loved you. She was warm and kind and everything your parents couldn’t be for you. It was almost bizarre to imagine that she and your mother were related.

After your first round of chemo, your grandma offered to take you in. She had a beautiful cottage in the country with a big yard and a garden and some animals. A perfect place to recover, she’d insisted, the fresh air would do good in your recovery. You remembered fights about it and never knowing why when you were a child.

Now that you were older and understood the world better, you knew all of the protests from your parents were due to the monsters. You grew up in the city, but you didn’t really see monsters growing up. Back then, the city was still segregated. Humans stayed in their own communities, behind gates meant to keep the monsters out. You remembered seeing the news reports of what happened to monsters who crossed into human neighborhoods. The memories made your skin crawl. What humans did to them made you question who the monsters really were.

But it wasn’t like that in the countryside. There was more freedom there. You remember your parents saying that the country was uncivilized because monsters were allowed to roam. Not that they actually did. You were sure the monsters saw those news reports too. They knew what happened when monsters overstepped their boundaries. Why would a monster risk it when it could mean death at the hands of a human?

You’d visited the countryside with your parents and little sister once every other month before you got sick, but you never saw a monster. Now that your parents’ prejudices were clear to you as an adult, you were sure that the visits were so infrequent because of the monsters’ presence. And when you did visit, there were always rules – no playing outside, no talking to strangers…

When you moved in with your grandma to recover, you were still too weak from the residual chemotherapy treatments to leave bed. You spent hours in bed reading books to pass the time. When that grew boring, you’d find yourself staring out the bedroom window, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the monsters. Sometimes you’d even day dream about befriending them and having adventures like in the books you were reading.

During the first couple of weeks, seeing a monster became the obsession of the 10 year old you. Your grandma saw through it, but unlike your parents she wasn’t afraid of the monsters. She had met monsters, and that thrilled you to no end. She told you stories and answered all your questions, no matter how silly.

“Can they really use magic?”

“Yes.”

“Can they eat food?”

“Of course!”

“Can they fly?”

“Some can.”

“Do they speak English?”

“Most do.”

For hours, you would ask, she would answer. Sometimes you’d ask the same questions, over and over even though you knew the answer. In those first days, you couldn’t imagine even seeing a monster. You didn’t know then that not only would you meet monsters, but you would befriend them that summer. You still remembered that summer as the best time of your life. You were somewhat healthier, you had friends, freedom, your first love...

But by the end of that summer, the dream had started again. _That damn dream_.

Once again you were sick, and then the riots broke out and the war that ended with the monsters trapped beneath Mt. Ebott.

 

…

 

Before your grandma died, she told you something you’d never forget. By then, you were mostly grown and the cancer was long gone. You’d sat at her bedside, holding her hand, knowing that at anytime she’d be gone. It was a hard pill to swallow because she was all you had – your parents were gone by then, and you didn’t have the most genuine relationship with your sister.

You didn’t leave her side once during her last day on earth. You sat and held her hand. When she was awake, you read her the same stories she read you when you were sick. When she slept, you just watched her. You didn’t want to let her go. Couldn’t do it.

Your last conversation you had still managed to give you chills. That night she woke up from a restless sleep, panting and when your eyes met, you barely recognized your grandmother. “… it was real,” she rasped.

“What was?” you asked her, your heart racing as you stroked her hand to calm her down.

Her eyes looked wild. She was scared. “… the cage. He opened my cage...” And she was gone before you even had time to process what she was saying.

You’d never seen your grandmother look that terrified. It terrified you almost as much as her words. She had seen him too, she had floated towards him and he had killed her.

And the dream was _real_.

How many times had he almost killed you? How many close brushes had you actually had with death himself? No matter how many times you thought about it, it still made you shiver. There were nights when you would be lying in bed and you’d think about it and get so scared you had to jump out of bed and turn the lights on. You found yourself wondering about the dream. Were you the only one that lived to remember it? Did everyone have the dream before death? Not that you liked to get too existential about things. If the dream taught you anything, it was that life was too short for that.

Fifteen years had passed since the first time you had that dream. Almost fourteen had passed since the monsters had been trapped underground. Twelve since you’d been cancer-free. Seven since your grandma died. Time passed and life moved on.

They say that every generation has a defining moment that people always look back on and remember exactly where they were and what they were doing. When man walked on the moon, when Kennedy was shot, when the Berlin wall fell, when the planes hit the twin towers, **_when the monsters resurfaced_**.

Not that it was hard for you to remember that last one. You were in the hospital because the night before the monsters resurfaced, so had your dream and your cancer.

 


	2. Chapter Two (Sans' POV)

_**(Sans’ POV)** _

 

**_Present day_ **

 

The first thing Sans did when the barrier broke and he and his friends made it to the surface was close his eyes and tilt his head back to let the breeze dance across his the bones of his face. When he opened them, head still leaned back, he was looking up at the stars. Freedom.

 

Sans hadn’t seen the surface since he was a child. Not that he’d been much a child anymore when they banished the monsters underground. The war had been short and ugly, and Sans grew up more in those few short months than he’d like to admit. That was what being a human killing machine did to a monster.

 

**_Twenty years earlier, Summer 20xx_ **

 

The first time Sans had killed a human, Papyrus was still a baby bones. He remembered it and how scared he’d been. That morning, Sans had woken up to the sound of Papyrus crying. Crying and crying and he just wouldn’t stop. His father, Gaster, had told Sans that it was because his little brother’s bones were fusing. “A natural part of life for skeletons...” Gaster had assured him as they both stood over Papyrus’ crib and watched him cry. “He’ll be fine, Sans...”

 

Later, Sans would claim to his father that he’d left the apartment because he was annoyed with how noisy Papyrus had been, but even his father knew better. It was hard for Sans to listen to Papyrus cry and not be able to ease his pain. He’d tried everything to make Papyrus smile: making silly faces, reading him a book, tickling him, conjuring bones out of thin air and tossing them for their pet dog. All of the things that usually got a delighted, ‘Nyeh heh!’ from his baby brother. But Papyrus still cried and cried. If Sans had a heart, it would have been broken.

 

Finally, Sans couldn’t listen anymore. He’d grabbed a book and slid his slippers on before unlocking the door and slipping outside. All of the other monster kids in the neighborhood had school which meant that Sans would be able to find enough peace and quiet to read and maybe catch a quick nap. He headed towards the dump at the edge of human and monster territory. It was where all the humans dumped the things they didn’t want any longer, but to Sans it was also where he could find the coolest items for his inventions.

 

Sans sat down on a tattered couch and flipped open to where his book was earmarked. Technically, Sans was home schooled but since Gaster was always busy, what that really meant was that he educated himself by reading books and building things. He was currently reading one he’d taken from his dad’s collection about physics. His dad had this awesome trick where he could teleport with a snap of his fingers and Sans was determined to learn it by the end of the year.

 

He was just falling asleep, book open on his lap, when he heard a voice calling his name. He sat up quickly and looked around. Shit. Had Gaster realized he’d sneaked out? But it didn’t sound like his dad. Before he could put too much more thought into it, the sun seemed to dim. What the…? The book slid off his lap as he stood up and looked around, noting that the whole world suddenly looked black and white. Then, in the direction of the voice he’d heard moments before, he saw an orange glow. His feet started leading him, following the heart to the opposite end of the dump, to the high fence that separated humans and monsters.

 

The orange glow, in the shape of a heart, was hovering just on the other side of the iron gate. He stood for a moment, just watching it as he contemplated what to do. Gaster had told him a million times not to even step one toe into human territory. Humans hated monsters. They _killed_ monsters. But now that he could almost reach that orange heart, he realized _that_ it was the heart that had said his name.

 

Sans rolled up his sleeve and stuck his hand between to bars but the heart was still just out of reach. He strained forward, his whole arm through the fence and grimaced as the bars ground against his shoulder bone. Then, the heart just floated towards his outstretched fingers. When it was close enough, Sans closed his fist around it and yanked his arm hard through the bars so he could examine it. As soon as he did, a blood curdling scream rang out and the world turned from black and white back to color.

 

On the ground, just on the other side of the fence, a small human child lay. A human child who hadn’t even been standing there moments before. Sans blinked down at the site in confusion, watching in shock as blood poured out of the human’s eyes and ears and mouth. But how??

 

A door flew open and a woman ran out, sprinting towards the supine child. “MONSTER!” She screamed, scooping up the body and craddling it. “A monster killed my baby!”

 

Sans was too in shock to argue, to deny the accusation. More humans poured out of buildings and before Sans could process the entire situation, they were all pushing their arms through the fence to try to grab at him.

 

A loud pop sounded from beside Sans and he knew it was Gaster. With another pop, they were back in the living room of their apartment. Gaster dropped Sans’ hand. “Grab your brother,” Gaster said, looking at Sans with an anger he’d never seen before.

 

“But…”

 

“Do it now!” Gaster said more firmly and Sans was too afraid to argue. He turned around and ran towards the bedroom he shared with his little brother and lifted him out of his crib.

 

“come on bro...” Papyrus was still crying and now Sans could hear police sirens in the background. “d-dad...” Sans began as he carried the infant back towards the living room. Gaster gave him a look and Sans knew better than to keep talking. With another pop, they were suddenly in a room that Sans had never seen before.

 

“Gaster,” a commanding voice spoke and when Sans turned towards it, he saw a tall goat monster dressed in purple robes. Sans was home-schooled, but even he knew who the monster was. Asgore. The king of all monsters.

 

“Your majesty,” Gaster said, bowing his head as he pushed Sans forward. “I must ask for a favor...”

 

“You must be Sans,” Asgore said, touching the young skeleton’s head. “And this must by Papyrus.”

 

Sans was still cradling his baby brother as Asgore bent down for a closer look. “yep...”

 

“Toriel,” he called. “Why don’t you show young Sans the library. I hear he is quite the book worm...”

 

Another goat monster stepped forward and held her hooven hand out to Sans. He reached out and offered her the hand that wasn’t cradling the crying baby and led Sans away. “Knock knock...” she began, as she led him out of the room so that Gaster and Asgore could speak privately.

 

Sans blinked and then found himself answering, “Who’s there?”

 

“Boo.” A small smile was beginning to stretch across Toriel’s face.

 

“Boo who?”

 

“Aw come on, Papyrus is already crying… not you too...” Toriel teased and Sans found himself grinning up at her.

 

Gaster had told Sans that living in the country was safer for him and his little brother when he’d left them in the care of the king and queen. He and Papyrus weren’t like other monsters. Their magic was… different. They was different. Sans was still young but he knew what that meant. Once the shock wore off, he knew exactly what had happened that day. The mother of that poor human child was right. Sans had killed him. He didn’t know why or how and Gaster was hardly around to answer any questions. He had killed a human and nothing would ever be the same again. The King and Queen were so kind to him and baby Papyrus but how could Toriel or Asgore ever understand when they’d never ripped out a human soul?

 

Papyrus was the only other monster like him and the only monster who would be able to understand. Not that Sans EVER wanted Papyrus to understand how he was feeling. No… Papyrus was too perfect and innocent. He would protect Papyrus at all costs. If he could help it, he would make sure that Papyrus never met a human.

  
And so, little Sans shut himself off from the world. Sure, he’d laugh at Toriel’s jokes. He’d play with the other kids, but never ever show his true colors or his true powers to them. While the other kids in the country practiced battles with the king, Sans would half-heartedly toss bones at his opponents, unwilling to unleash his real power again. Not that he could kill the other monsters like he had the human. But it was Sans’ deepest shame and he could never let anyone else know what he’d done. Gaster and Asgore and Toriel were already three monsters too many.

 

It wasn’t until another five years had passed and Papyrus was old enough to walk and talk and start training that another human soul called for him. He was sat on a grassy hill watching his little brother train with an older monster named Undyne. Watching Papyrus was one of the only things that brought him true happiness. Sans smiled with pride as Papyrus conjured a small bone out of thin air. As it floated above the young skeleton’s hand, he beamed at the sight, “SANS! LOOK SANS! I HAVE MADE A BONE!”

 

Sans smiled at his little brother, “that’s great bro… but pay attention!”

 

Just as he said it, one of Undyne’s spears came whizzing past Papyrus’ skull. “HEY! NO FAIR! YOU WILL NOT BEST THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

 

Sans chuckled at his brother. So cute.

 

“SANSSSS...”

 

“yeah?” Sans looked up at his brother and it took a moment before he realized it hadn’t been his brother’s voice that had called his name. He dropped the blade of grass as the world turned black and white. Shit. No. Not again. The sound of Undyne’s laughter and Papyrus’ annoyance faded away to silence. In fact, he couldn’t even SEE Papyrus or Undyne or anyone anymore for that matter.

 

It took a moment before Sans finally saw it. Far far in the distance, there was something glittering and Sans felt the bones in his chest constrict. It was happening again. He could hear it more clearly now, calling his name over and over and over. This time, the voice calling him was different before. Last time it had been deeper, more masculine. Definitely a boy’s voice.

 

But now the voice chanting his name was higher and sweeter. He stood up, his feet carrying him in the direction of the voice. After a few steps, he realized the voice wasn’t chanting. It was _singing._ And god, it was the prettiest thing he’d ever heard. He couldn’t have stopped himself if he’d tried. He let himself be lead by the voice and the shimmering heart. He walked for what must have been over an hour, through the deep woods until he finally came out on the other side. There was the heart, underneath a tree, floating about a foot off the ground.

 

It took all of Sans’ willpower to stay where he was. He watched the soul for hours and it was almost torture to have to listen to that voice calling for him. Finally, the heart floated a little higher and he watched it walk towards a house not far from the tree. After a while, the world became colorful again and Sans went home.

 

He went back every day that week. He knew more about the nature of human souls now that he was a little older. When the world went black and white, all he could see was the soul, but he knew that the  soul was encased in an actual human. A human he didn’t _want_ to kill even if it seemed like her voice was begging him for it. And what a beautiful voice it was, begging for him. The thought made Sans blush.

 

He wanted to see the human. He wanted to see you.

 

He’d been watching you soul for so long that he knew your routine by heart now. But he didn’t want to scare you. Sans was sure that if you saw him, you would scream. He would be in trouble, or worse, dead. And then no one would be around to watch Papyrus. Sans left early that morning, before the sun was even up, and made the trek to his human’s favorite tree. He climbed high enough into the branches that he hoped you wouldn’t be able to see him there, and just waited.

 

First, he needed to figure out how to stop the world from turning to black and white. He’d gotten so lazy with his magic, he didn’t even know where to begin. He’d been sitting in his tree when he heard the whispering of his name and he could see the edges of his vision growing black and white. NO… he concentrated as hear as he could, whisps of blue magic floating out of his fingertips.

 

His magic looked almost like streams of water, twisting and curling from his fingertips. And then he saw you. You were a human girl, about the same size as Sans, with almost no hair on your head. You were humming a song as you walked towards the tree, a book tucked under your arm. He watched as the blue streams of his magic spun around you and then they were gone.

 

Sans had no idea what he’d done or if he could ever do it again. But at least now he could see you. You didn’t look like the humans from the story books he read Papyrus at bedtime, but Sans thought you were pretty. For a human, anyway.

 

He sat in the tree, still as could be in hopes that you wouldn’t see him. When you reached the tree, you sat down and opened a book on your lap, your humming coming to a stop as she began to read aloud from your book. Sans froze. Did you know he was there? After a few minutes, he relaxed. He didn’t think so. When an old lady came to call you away, Sans took it as his cue to leave and went back home to where Papyrus was telling him excitedly how he’d landed a hit on Undyne for the first time.

 

‘tomorrow,’ Sans thought. ‘i’ll bring a book too.’

 

And that’s how it went. Instead of training, or studying, Sans would take a book and go to the tree and wait for his human. Some days you didn’t come. And some days no matter how hard Sans tried, he couldn’t stop the world from going black and white. On those days, he didn’t get too close.

 

Sans’ routine didn’t go unnoticed by Papyrus. And Papyrus had enough of his brother’s laziness. When he saw Sans sneak out of his room before dawn, Papyrus was already dressed and ready to discover what his brother was up to. He trailed behind Sans, sneaking quietly. Or so he thought.

 

Sans, however, had known before he even left Dreemurr house that Papyrus was following him. How could he not notice when Papyrus was like an elephant in a china shop? Papyrus was dressed in a bright red t-shirt, clomping around, and greeting every forest animal he came across in a loud whisper.

 

Finally, Sans couldn’t take it anymore. “paps...”

 

“YES?” a voice called from about 30 feet behind him. “I MEAN… UM… RIBBIT?”

 

“come on, paps…i know it’s you...” Sans almost wanted to laugh at his little brother’s attempt.

 

“HOW DID YOU KNOW, BROTHER?” Papyrus said loudly as he sprinted to catch up.

 

“dunno…i guess a little froggy _toad_ me.” Sans shrugged and Papyrus groaned at the pun.

 

“HMM I’LL HAVE TO WORK ON MY SNEAK ATTACK...” Papyrus said thoughtfully. He slowed his pace to walk in time with Sans. “WHERE ARE WE OFF TO?”

 

“nowhere special...” Sans said, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. That answer seemed to disappoint Papyrus but he didn’t say anything. Soon, they reached the clearing and Sans led his brother across it. “up here,” he pointed to the tree and began climbing.

 

Papyrus followed him up and sat next to him on a thick tree branch. “WHAT ARE WE DOING?”

 

Sans leaned back so that he dangled upside down from the branch. “you know, just _hanging_ out, bro.”

 

“SAAAAANS,” Papyrus whined but his attention was torn away from his brother’s antics. He perked up. “DO YOU SEE THAT BROTHER?”

 

Sans blinked. Shit. Could Papyrus see the human’s soul? This had been a terrible mistake, letting Papyrus come along.

 

“I SAID, DO YOU SEE THAT HUMAN, SANS?!” Papyrus exclaimed and Sans threw a hand over his little brother’s mouth.

 

“Shhh...” Sans said and began conjuring his stream of blue magic and channeling it towards the little girl. It was almost second nature now, and Sans was sure it was some kind of protection magic. “i see her too bro...”

 

Papyrus watched what Sans was doing, and whispered loudly as youl began to run downhill towards the tree, “DO ALL HUMANS SMELL LIKE THAT?”

 

Sans could smell it too. She smelled… nice. Like flowers and vanilla and… death. He didn’t like to think it. It disturbed him a little that not only could he smell it, but that he liked it.

 

Sans was tense as you came closer and several times, he had to put his hand over Papyrus' mouth when he started whispering a little too loudly. The brothers watched as you sat down and opened your book and began reading from it, which thrilled Papyrus. Sans could see his little brother bouncing excitedly as you read a story about a prince who was trying to rescue a princess from her evil step mother. Leave it to Papyrus to be entranced by a fairy tale.

 

About halfway through the story, you closed your book and stood up. Sans knew that meant it was lunch time but before he could even stop his brother, Papyrus had hopped down from the tree. “WAIT, HUMAN. THE STORY IS NOT FINISHED!”

 

“paps, no!” Sans jumped down too. They were in so much trouble! “lets go!” They needed to leave, NOW. He couldn’t let the human hurt Papyrus. Even if he was fond of this particular human, he knew that they weren't exactly fond of monsters.

 

You froze in place when you heard Papyrus' shrill voice and turned to look at them with wide eyes as Sans started pulling on Papyrus’ arm. “Wait!” you finally spoke. “Are you… monsters?”

 

“WHY YES, HUMAN!” Papyrus said excitedly. “AND YOU ARE A HUMAN!”

 

“That is so COOL!” you gushed excitedly, holding the book against your chest as little metaphorical hearts filled your eyes.

 

“WOWIE. DID YOU HEAR THAT SANS?” Papyrus bounced. “THE HUMAN THINKS I AM COOL. ISN’T THAT SWELL?”

 

Sans nodded, looking at you like you'd grown a second head. Humans weren't supposed to think monsters were cool...

 

“HUMAN, WHERE IS YOUR HAIR? THE HUMANS IN MY PICTURE BOOKS HAVE LONG BEAUTIFUL HAIR...” Papyrus said, matter-of-factly.

 

Your face turned red and you quickly pulled one hand off of the book to cover your head. “Oh, um. I’m sick so...”

 

Sans elbowed Papyrus and said, ‘paps… _shave_ your stupid questions for later...’ Papyrus groaned and Sans almost did too. That was bad. So bad. He could tell you were embarrassed and yet he'd made a joke of it.

 

Instead of getting upset, you just blinked and then grinned and Sans smirked back at you. “name’s sans and this is my little bro papyrus.”

 

“YES, I’M SURE WE’LL BE GREAT FRIENDS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU FINISH THAT WONDERFUL STORY!”

 

“Oh… I have to go eat lunch and rest. But maybe tomorrow?” you asked hopefully.

 

“OH YES! WE WILL BE HERE, RIGHT SANS?”

 

“sure thing, bro...”

 

The next day, Sans made a flower crown from flowers Papyrus had collected while they waited for their new friend. When you finally arrived, Sans placed the crown on top of your head. “there ya go. now you look like the princesses in paps’ books.”

 

You blushed as you looked at him, but Sans could tell how pleased you were and it made a faint blue blush spread over his cheekbones too. “COME SIT NEXT TO ME HUMAN!” Papyrus interrupted, patting the ground next to him.

 

____

 

 

**_Present Day_ **

 

Sans was snapped out of his memories as he felt a small hand squeeze his phalanges. He looked down at Frisk. “hmm? what’s up, kid? ready to go?” He looked down the mountain, out at the city in the distance before letting his vision go to black and white. Finally he found what he was looking for – like a pinprick miles away, a shimmering human soul.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rushed to get this chapter out so that I could finish setting up most of the back story. Its my first time doing a story with POV switches so please tell me if its too confusing! Thanks for all the kudos and kind comments! :)


	3. Chapter Three (Reader's POV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates. I started a new job and its honestly been a crazy couple of weeks. But my plan going forward is to update the story at least twice a week (Wed and Sunday) since my chapters are on the shorter side. Feel free to poke me if I miss an update.

Chapter 3 – Reader Perspective

 

Something like this could only happen to you, you thought bitterly as you waited for the test results from your blood sample. Not that you needed to wait. The dream was all you needed to confirm what you already knew to be true. Your cancer was back.

 

In the back of your mind, that had always been a possibility. Very few survivors of childhood cancer got away without some kind of late effect. Part of you wanted to cry that it didn’t seem fair, but what would that help? Life wasn’t fair. And crying wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t make you feel better and it wouldn’t make the cancer disappear. You had been through this once already.

 

Hell, you’d been through a lot in your life.

 

As you sat in the doctors office, willing your leg to stop shaking so that the crunching of the paper on the examination table didn’t give away your nervousness, you thought back on your life so far. What a fucking melodramatic shit show. Childhood cancer, becoming an orphan, dropping out of school… all of it was like something out of the worst kind of soap opera. The kind your sister would love.

 

Speaking of…

 

You looked down at your phone. She was the second person you’d told about the return of your cancer.

 

‘ _But how do you know if the doctors haven’t confirmed it? Aren’t you being melodramatic??’_

 

You snorted. _Of_ _course_ she wouldn’t believe you without solid proof. She never believed you about the dream with the cage. She didn’t believe in anything other than right and wrong. Black and white. She was two years younger but never missed an opportunity to chastise you for being ‘whimsical’ or ‘over-imaginative’. She was convinced you’d read one too many fairy tales and that it had rotted out the logical part of your brain.

 

To be fair, you didn’t even tell her about the cancer. That had been Jack. Wonderful, amazing Jack. You had been dating him for nearly 3 years and he was literally the only thing about your life in which your sister approved. And bless his soul for being able to get along with your sister so well. As far as you were concerned, that took a saint. It was annoying that he’d turned around and told your sister, but at least you could understand it. He was out of town and didn’t want you to be alone in this. You were having a lot of trouble actually being angry with him.

 

You left the message on read. What was the point of arguing with Olivia? She wouldn’t believe you until the tests were here and then once she had the proof she needed, she would reply pragmatically. You weren’t going to get comfort or support out of her. There would be no hugs or crying or outpouring of support. That wasn’t who she was. If that’s what you expected of her, you were only going to be disappointed.

 

And that right there made up your entire philosophy on life. Don’t expect anything. Ever. You’d learned early on that you had no control over anything in life. Hope only made things harder.

 

You opened the browser on your phone, looking for some kind of distraction. You blinked. The top story on your homepage read ‘Monsters Break Barrier to Surface’ along with a picture of Mt. Ebott.

 

Well, fuck. What a day.

 

How did you feel about this? How did EVERYONE feel about this??

 

You remember how it all started. It was the summer of the same year that you were diagnosed with cancer. A little boy had been killed by a monster near the border of monster territory in Ebott City. Until that point, monsters had been living relatively peacefully on the surface. Keyword: relatively.

 

You weren’t sure segregation and racism counted as living peacefully. But for the most part, monsters kept to themselves and vice versa. No one really knew what happened to that boy that was murdered. The newspapers painted it like it was some kind of terrorist attack meant to trigger an uprising. Like monsters had been lying in wait for some human to come just close enough to monster territory to be killed. Pft.

 

That was like the stupidest thing you’d ever heard. If the monsters really wanted to start an uprising, they would have marched straight into the heart of the city and attacked humans on a large scale. But they didn’t and to you that said a lot.

 

You were shuffled out of the city and into the mountainside at the same time all of the attacks started happening, so you thought maybe you had less bias that the average person in that regard. You didn’t see what it was like in the city. But you wanted to believe that that little boys’ death was an accident.

 

You made friends with monsters. You knew they weren’t bad. After the attack and before the war officially started, humans had started to attack and kill monsters like it was some kind of game. They were the ones that went into monster territory and started kidnapping and murdering. Until that final battle, it was NEVER the other way around. The war only started because monsters had to defend themselves.

 

That’s not the way the history books would write it, but you knew that the winners always wrote history in their favor. You were in the vast minority for believing what you did. For believing that monsters were good, that they deserved equal treatment.

 

You’d learned by now to keep your opinion to yourself. People didn’t like to hear the monsters defended. They didn’t like to be told that they’d fought dirty, that they’d sinned. Hell, if anyone was allowed to say it, it was you. Because the fact of the matter was this:

 

During the war, over ten thousand monsters died. Humans? Only 150. And of that 150, two happened to be your parents. You were one of the few directly affected by the war. Your parents had been killed by the monsters. And still… you were on the monsters’ side.

 

Your sister would _never_ forgive you if she knew you felt that way. She’d always looked down on you for the way you felt about monsters. You remembered all too well how she felt about Sans and Papyrus.

 

It was strange how those two names still brought a smile to your face. You often wondered if they were still alive. It hurt your heart to think otherwise. Papyrus was so sweet and innocent and if he was dust, then surely whoever killed him would be spending eternity in Hell. And Sans…

 

Thinking of Sans still made your whole body hum. You wondered if all people thought of their first love that way. When you thought about how his little hand felt in yours, all the chaste stolen kisses, your innocent declarations of love… well, it made your heart feel like bursting. And the thought that he was gone hurt way too much.

 

You never let yourself think about Sans too much. There was so much going on back then. Between battling cancer and losing your parents, you couldn’t also handle losing Sans. You couldn’t think about it. You wanted to believe that he was still alive, in the mountain with the rest of the surviving monsters. There was never a tally of names of the monsters killed. Once they were gone, they turned to dust so even if humans cared enough to document the victims, it would have been impossible. Sans was gone, that was all you knew.

 

That had been the impossible year. When the monsters had been sealed away, it was more than you could take emotionally. The fact you were dying? You could handle that. That your parents were gone? Okay… you still had your grandma. But Sans being gone forever…

 

You remembered crying. Crying so much that your newly orphaned sister couldn’t stand to share your room with you anymore. You supposed she knew why you were crying. She must have felt so disgusted that you cried more over Sans than you had your own parents. You had felt so alone, curled in a ball on your bed, like part of you was missing.

 

But then your health took an upswing. In less than a year, you’d miraculously made it to remission with no sign of your cancer returning.

 

The only thing that could have possibly distracted you from the return of your cancer would be the thought of seeing Sans again. Or at least knowing if he was alive. You quickly clicked on the article and started skimming it.

 

An earthquake had accompanied the breaking of the barrier, and when scientists went to investigate, they were greeted with the king and queen of monsters and a human child who had helped them break the barrier. There was no official statement but the article suggested that all the monsters wanted was to live in peace on the mountain and let the humans be.

 

You clicked through as many of the articles as you could find, hoping for more information, but it was all the same. There were no pictures and no additional information. This. This is why you shouldn’t hope. You chastised yourself. Don’t hope he’s alive. He’s gone. You made your peace with that. You moved on already!

 

You were still berating yourself when the office door opened and a doctor walked in. “Hi, I’m Dr. Montgomery, the chief oncologist here.”

 

Well, there you have it. “Hi. Cancer, right?”

 

She looked shocked for a moment but quickly fixed herself with a smile. “Right…”

 

“Great...” you said with relief and quickly got back to your sister. Your fingers paused. You wanted so badly to gloat about how you were right. Maybe NOW she’d believe your dreams.

 

“Um...” Dr. Montgomery seemed thrown off by your relief. “It’s quite advanced considering you just had some blood work done at your physical a few months ago. Because of the aggression, we’d like to start treatment right away.”

 

“Oh...” you said. Of course it was advanced! Of COURSE it was aggressive! What more could you have expected? “Um, yeah…”

 

“Great, then we’ll want you in again tomorrow afternoon...” she said, already flipping pages on her clipboard and writing something down.

 

“Tomorrow? Oh… tomorrow I’m really busy...” you told her, scratching the back of your neck. You were NOT looking forward to treatment.

 

She stopped what she was doing and gave you a look. You knew that look because your sister often gave you the same one. “You do realize this is serious?”

 

“Of course. I’ve had cancer before...” you shot back, annoyed. Maybe part of that frustration bubbling up inside of you was because she reminded you of your sister just then. You felt guilty.

 

You didn’t miss the look of confusion on her face and then she started flipping through a few pages, concentrating again. Well, shit. She hadn’t realized you’d had cancer before. She hadn’t even read your fucking chart properly! “Yes, well I see that… All the more reason to start right away. Your immune system is already compro-”

 

“Yeah, I get it. The thing is, I’m not exactly pumped to get started on that...” you tell her, trying your hardest not to be rude.

 

“Well, it’s your health we’re talking about here...” she said.

 

“I’ll think about it,” you told her.

 

She looked at you like you were absolutely nuts. “You do realize that the longer you wait, the harder this will be to beat. You wait too long, you might NOT beat it.”

 

You just nodded. You picked up your phone again and texted your sister back, ‘ _False alarm. You were right :)_ ’ You hoped off the table and shook her hand. “I understand. I’m just going to think about it for a few days.”

 

She didn’t look like she approved, but you were an adult and at the end of the day, the choice was yours. You’d probably call her in a couple days and set up your first round of chemo. But for now you just wanted to be in denial for a few days. That wasn’t too much to ask in exchange for being sick.

 

You had just gotten home and kicked off your shoes when you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You pulled it out and cringed when you read it. It was from Olivia.

 

‘ _Good. One less thing to worry about now that the filthy monsters are back. :)_ ’

 

A smiley face? Really? She knew how you felt about the monsters. It was almost like gloating. Or maybe she was just so self absorbed that she forgot. You quickly typed back, ‘ _Let’s not start this._ ’

 

Her response was almost immediate. Like she’d been waiting on pins and needles for you to argue with her over the validity of monsters as a race. ‘ _Oh, sorry. I thought you’d grown up enough to realize how things really went down._ ’

 

‘ _And I thought you’d grown up enough to realize not everything is black and white. But I guess we’re both just going to have to deal with the disappointment of being wrong._ ’ You typed back furiously.

 

‘ _It IS black and white. Monsters KILLED our parents and you still want to defend them! You didn’t see what it was like because you were up in the mountains making friends with the scum!’_ You could imagine in your mind how red her face was getting as she typed all of this up. You hadn’t fought about this since two Christmases ago when Jack suggested the two of you join his family. What a disaster that day had been. You’d promised him then that you wouldn’t bring it up to her ever again.

 

Well, too late. You were already angry. _‘You act like I was on some kind of vacation up there and had it easy! I had cancer, Olivia!’_

 

‘ _Oh here we go again. How long are you going to milk that for?’_

 

You didn’t even bother replying to that. You practically threw your phone onto the sofa and marched into the kitchen. “I can’t BELIEVE her,” you grumbled to yourself as you yanked the cabinet door open and pulled down a wine glass. “Milking it? MILKING IT?” You were maybe shouting a little bit as you grabbed a corkscrew and jabbed it into the cork of a wine bottle. “She is going to be SO SORRY she said that when I die of cancer!” You twisted it down and then yanked the cork out.

 

That sounded like the perfect plan. You were just going to die! And make her feel so sorry. And bonus! She’d be all alone with no family left and she’d feel so guilty about it. Oh! You took the bottle of wine and drank straight from it, forgoing the glass altogether as another brilliant idea formed. AAAAND!!! You would just not say another word to her ever again so that she has to live with the knowledge that the last thing she ever said to you was an accusation of milking your cancer for attention. That would _totally_ show her!

 

By the time you were three quarters finished with the bottle, most of your anger had disappeared. Funny how relaxed a full-bodied red could make you feel. You were currently on the couch, deeply immersed in a true crime documentary… well more like dangling halfway off the couch. You were kind of glad that Jack was out of town. He would not be very impressed if he walked in to find you drunkenly sliding off the couch with your pants unbuttoned. Hey, you were too lazy to actually change.

 

From behind you, you heard something that sounded suspiciously like another wine bottle being uncorked. “Jack?” you sat up (kinda) and turned around (more like wobbly looked over your shoulder).

 

You blinked. Not Jack.

 

Oh man… you were so drunk you were hallucinating! “I’m just gonna lay down...” You slumped down, feeling dizzy.

 

Yep, definitely hallucinating. This is what happened when you drank while emotional! You were starting to chastise yourself when you got the funny feeling that you were floating. You tried to open your eyes, but the world was spinning so you kept them shut until the world stopped spinning and you felt like you were in the world’s warmest, comfiest bed. “Skelly...” you mumbled as you shifted around and felt yourself being covered up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) Next chapter will have the first present day interaction with Reader/Sans.


	4. Chapter Four (Sans' POV)

Chapter 4 – Sans’ Perspective

 

To Sans, the first day back on the surface felt even longer than the fifteen years he’d spent underground. Having dreamt longingly of the day for so many years certainly hadn’t prepared him for the agony of just sitting around uselessly all day. He needed to _do_ something but he was stuck just sitting around and biding his time. According to Toriel and Asgore, it was of the utmost importance that Sans remain undetected by humans. He was a wanted monster for what he had done during the war.

 

Not that Sans had much choice. Both he and Papyrus had been created for the purpose of killing humans. The war started the moment that he had killed that little boy and Sans couldn’t convey how guilty he felt about killing that little boy. Hell, it technically made him responsible for starting the war. It upset Toriel deeply whenever he voiced that thought. Humans were hostile before the accident, she told him. He knew on some level that his queen was right. The war would have started sooner rather than later regardless of whether that boy had been killed. Monsters were truly hated that much.

 

Even _if_ he had killed that one little boy, it didn’t excuse the sheer number of monsters that had been dusted by humans in the following months. Their population had dwindled so low that when they were finally forced into the mountain, Sans knew every monster resident personally. Every single one of those monsters had lost someone.

 

So really… what were a couple hundred human lives? Sans barely even felt guilty about it anymore.

 

The day he attacked all of those humans, he had been given an ultimatum by his father and Asgore. Either he use his magic to kill, or Papyrus would be trained to do it in his stead. His father knew that would work. There was no way Sans was going to let _anyone_ take away Papyrus’ innocence like that. Even if Papyrus trained and grew as strong as him, his little brother would never understand why he had to kill humans. Papyrus had only ever known one human, and he loved her. They both did.

 

Which brought Sans back to current predicament. Those long fifteen years that he’d been trapped in the underground, he had no idea if you were still alive or not. After all, you had been so sick the last time he saw you. Some days, though, the memories he had of you were the only thing that kept him going.

 

_\--_

 

_Fifteen years earlier, Summer 20xx_

 

Sans visited you almost every day, unless you told him in advance that you wouldn’t be able to play. On days when Papyrus wasn’t training with Undyne or being taught by Toriel, he would tag along. He was obsessed with the human fairy tale stories. Sometime you'd bring Papyrus coloring books or toys. Things that they didn't have at their own home. Papyrus’ favorite were the little pony action figures you’d sometimes bring so that he could act out ‘battle scenarios’. For some reason it always made you laugh when Papyrus made the ponies fight each other.

 

Sans’ favorite days were the ones where Papyrus was too busy to tag along or when he’d fall asleep to the stories. Those were the days that he got you all to himself. Today was one of those days -- Papyrus had his head in your lap and was letting out soft little snores of, “nyeh~”

 

“Sans?” your small voice broke him out of his thoughts. He’d been zoning out, watching you stroke Papyrus’ tiny sleeping skull. The sight made him feel warm all over.

 

“hmmm?” he asked, blushing softly when he noticed you’d caught him staring at your hands.

 

You didn’t say anything, your own cheeks turning red. “Nevermind...” you mumbled. Sans watched as you bit your lip, looking like you wanted to say something.

 

He wanted to press it further, but didn’t have the guts to do it. He wondered what you'd wanted to say to him. “oh… okay...”

 

You were both silent for a few minutes before you finally asked, “What are your parents like?”

 

Sans blinked. “my parents? my dad is okay...” He never saw Gaster anymore, but the memories he had of his dad before he’d poured himself completely into his work were mostly positive. Sans would be lying if he said there was no bad blood at the fact that his dad had abandoned Papyrus. Sans was old enough to understand that work came first. Gaster had a role to play among monster-kind. But Papyrus had been a baby and Sans’ had been the only family left to care for him.

 

“What about your mom?” you pressed.

 

“dont have one,” Sans said.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry...” you said, looking away. He could tell that made you sad, so he was quick to backtrack.

 

“no, i mean, i dont have one. my dad made me,” he tried to explain, his voice light to ease you. “no lady skeletons involved!”

 

That did seem to put you at ease but he could see the cogs spinning in her head. Your face was expressive! It was hilarious to Sans. “So monsters don’t get married?” you blushed.

 

It was a few seconds before Sans finally blinked and gave you your answer. Your blush was very distracting to him, he was realizing. “huh? well… yeah ‘course they do.”

 

“But you don’t _need_ a boy monster and a girl monster to have a baby?”

 

Sans blinked. “oh… well yeah. most monsters are born that way,” he conceded. “like humans, I ‘spose.”

 

“But not you and Papyrus?” you clarified.

 

“no, guess not...” Sans told you. They were unique as far as monsters were concerned. Gaster was brilliant and if anyone could figure out a way to make life, it would be him. He looked over at you and you were staring down at Papyrus. “what about yours?”

 

“My parents? They’re okay. They live in the city with my sister.”

 

Sans’ face lit up. He hadn’t known you had a sister. “you have a sister? how old is she?”

 

“She’s a little older than Papyrus. We don’t really get along.”

 

Sans nodded. He couldn’t imagine not getting along with his sibling. But then, Papyrus was just about the coolest kid in the world. “why not?”

 

You shrugged, trying to pretend it didn’t bother you. But Sans’ liked to think he knew you well enough now to see through that. “I don’t think she likes me.”

 

“why not?” Sans also couldn’t imagine anyone not liking his human friend!

 

“Lots of reasons. She doesn’t like that I’m sick,” you began.

 

Sans scoffed. “thats stupid.”

 

You smiled a little at that. “Right? It’s not like I _want_ to be dying...”

 

A rumbling growl left Sans’ chest at that. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t know you were dying. He would never have met you if your dying soul hadn’t been calling out to him. But, he didn’t want to be reminded of your health. He didn’t want you to be gone. “d o n t s a y t h a t .”

 

You looked over at him, a little shocked by the sudden change in his demeanor. Between the growl and the tone he was using, he could see you shiver. You certainly didn’t look scared though. The atmosphere felt tense. Or maybe it was just Sans that was tense. Quickly, you leaned over and gave him a kiss, pressing your lips against his grimace of a smile. When you broke the kiss you looked back down at Papyrus, your face and neck red with embarrassment. But your face looked happy. “It’s okay.”

 

It took Sans a minute to recover. The kiss had worked to take away any anger he’d been feeling. But it left him feeling… confused. What did it mean? You’d kissed him on the cheek a few times before but you’d also done the same to Papyrus. This time, it’d been on the mouth! Like in one of the romantic stories you sometimes read to Papyrus. Sans’ little brain was still trying to work on the meaning of the kiss when your words finally processed. “its not okay,” he insisted, his pouty voice barely audible.

 

“It is. At least I got to meet you,” you told him sweetly. “You and Papyrus are so cool. I knew monsters were nice. And I always wanted to meet one.”

 

Sans ignored you, scooting closer. He took your hand, wrapping his bony phalanges around it. “its not okay," he told you again, his voice serious. He didn’t like the ease with which you talked about dying. He hated that you said it like it was a fact. Like you were already gone. “dont talk like that. youre still alive now.”

 

You nodded at him and looked away, but not before Sans saw the tears filling your eyes. Sans could tell that you tried to act tough but anyone could see that in that moment, you were scared. “hey.” He let go of your hand and brought his own to your cheek, turning your face to look at him. He tried to wipe away your tears, but all he could do with his finger was smear the wetness around on your cheeks. Welp, that didn’t work. He blushed at his fumbling attempt. All he wanted to do was comfort you.

 

You were still looking at him, so he leaned forward and pressed his teeth against your lips the same way you’d done to him a few minutes early. Your hands came up from your lap, settling on Sans’ shoulders.

 

Below them, Papyrus’ sleepy voice spoke up, “HEY NO CANOODLING!”

 

The kiss broke off and both parties blushed and spluttered at having been caught. That was the _only_ time Sans could ever really remember being annoyed with his little brother. But there would be plenty of time for kisses later, and there had been.

 

After that day, there were plenty of kisses between him and his human friend. If he was being honest with himself, Sans was obsessed. Not just with the kisses, although those were amazing. He was just obsessed with you. His little human.

 

On the days that you were too sick to play or had doctors’ appointments, Sans would sneak out of the castle at night and just watch you sleep from outside your window. Then, it slowly became every night, to the point where he couldn’t sleep unless he knew you were okay. Some nights, he wanted to open your window and climb into bed with you and just hold you. But he also didn’t want to scare you. He wasn’t sure you’d be okay with that.

 

He needed to protect you, which was so confusing for Sans, because there was a small part of him that also felt the need to end you. That was terrifying to him, and not something he would _ever_ act on. He’d end himself before he’d lay a finger on you. He _loved_  you.

 

As long as they were both on this earth, he would protect you. You wouldn’t be dying on his watch.

 

\--

 

_Present Day_

 

The first thing Sans had done as soon as the barrier was gone and he could use his magic on the surface, was check to see if you were still alive. When he finally found your soul, he could feel his own soaring. You were  _alive_ _._

 

Being forced to lay low and knowing that you were close was literal torture for Sans. He thought a million times about taking a shortcut to go see you, but he couldn’t risk being seen by humans. The last thing the monster race needed was trouble and he wasn’t going to disappoint anyone by causing it.

 

If the last fifteen years had taught him anything, it was patience. He could be patient. He needed to be for now. He’d go see his human soon enough.

 

He distracted himself by going back to his old stomping ground. The castle were he'd grown up wasn’t far from the opening of the mountain, but it was gone now. Even though magic had been used to build the castle, humans still managed to tear it down to the ground. The remnants were still there, crumbled bits of wall, but for the most part, it was gone. He knew that would make Papyrus sad, but they’d just have to rebuild.

 

From there, he followed his familiar footpath through the forest and down the other side to where his human had lived. The house was still there, but he could tell that it had new occupants. It smelled… different. Part of him was tempted to look into your old window, but he couldn’t get caught. Besides, there was no point. He knew you were miles away in the city.

 

He wandered around all day, allowing Toriel and Asgore time to make attempts to speak to the press or the government or whoever. He couldn't risk ruining everyone's chance at freedom by being impulsive. He’d be a good Sans for now. But the later it got, the more antsy Sans became. When it was late enough, and he could safely assume that you were home and not in public, he took a shortcut to the place where he could feel your soul.

 

With a pop, he was standing in your apartment and relaxed almost immediately. You smelled the same, though there was something… off about the apartment. It wasn't quite right.

 

At first, he didn’t see you and that made him feel worried but then you were sitting up from where you had been lying on the couch. “Jack?” He could feel his soul flutter as your eyes met. You were beautiful. He’d always thought so, but especially now that you were grown. And you looked so healthy! That made him so happy! He blushed a little as he realized he’d never seen you with hair, but it fell in waves around your shoulders now and his fingers twitched with want to touch it. You still had the same round, clear eyes and he could see your surprise in them.

 

Before Sans could say anything at all, you looked woozy and mumbled, “I’m just going to lay down...” before slumping into a lying position on the couch.

 

Well, that could have gone better, in Sans’ opinion.

 

He walked over to where you was passed out on the couch and frowned when he saw the empty bottle of wine. He hoped you didn’t make a habit of drinking this much. It also made him realize how much you'd probably changed. Did you still like reading? Were you still kind and motherly? Would he even like the person you were now? And better yet, would you still like him? So much time had passed. His eyes settled on your form, and he blushed a light blue shade when he noticed your pants were unbuttoned and unzipped.

  
  
“come on… time for bed,” he told you quietly, and bent down to lift you up into his arms. He could have used his magic to get you there, but he wasn't going to be lazy about this. He'd waited so long to see you. You barely moved and it didn’t seem like you’d even heard him. He carried you through the open door of your bedroom and set you carefully on the bed, pulling the blankets over her and tucking them in around you like he did for Papyrus every night.

 

You sunk into the blankets and mumbled a lazy, “Skelly...” which made Sans blush.

 

He sat down at the foot of the bed and just watched you. This wasn’t at all like he’d imagined their first meeting would go. He felt a little foolish for building it up in his head all of those years. How you'd kiss and hold each other and proclaim your love for one another. He was an idiot.

 

With a sigh, he stood up and made his way out to her living room, taking the empty bottle of wine and reading the label before tossing it in the garbage. Why were you drinking so much anyway? He didn’t like that so he gathered all the other bottles of alcohol you had stashed  and teleported them away from your apartment. That was better.

 

Once that was done, he huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets, wondering what to do with himself. He strolled around your apartment and stopped to look at some framed photos. He could tell some were of your sister, a couple of your parents and a few of you with some guy.

 

His soul clenched in his chest and he growled low. In all of his daydreaming, he’d never pictured you with someone else. You were his human. Some part of his brain knew that logically, you weren't waiting around for him forever. You didn't even know if he was alive or dead. But that logical part of his brain didn't stop him from feeling intensely jealous. He dropped the picture frame on the ground, feeling satisfied with the sound of broken glass. “oops,” he said lightly, sounding not at all sorry.

 

He headed back to your bedroom and just watched you sleep from the doorway. He had waited so long to see you that the disappointment of your first meeting had already disappeared. Sans was just so happy you were alive. You were safe and happy. He’d have to do something about the boyfriend, but that could be dealt with another day. For now, he was happy to just be here with you.

 

He climbed back onto the bed, careful not to disturb you as he sat cross-legged by your side. For tonight, he was content with just watching you sleep. There was something soothing about the steady rise and fall of your chest that made the rest of the world just disappear. He reached out for your hair, and ran his fingers through it gently, letting it wrap around his fingers.

 

He stayed next to you like that all night, occasionally touching your hair or shoulders or sides when the urge became too strong. What he really wanted was to lay down and pull you close. He wanted to wrap his arms around you and feel the steady rise and fall of your breaths against his chest. He wanted to bury his face in your hair and fall asleep right there with you.

 

There would be time for that, eventually, after you both could talk properly. He waited for this moment for so long that he didn’t plan on letting you go. He could be patient a little longer. All he needed to do was wait for you to wake up. Which seemed to be taking forever. Probably because of how much you’d had to drink the previous night. It was already almost eleven the next morning and you were still showing no signs of waking up. He’d even had to poke you a few times just to make sure you were breathing. Were you always this heavy of a sleeper? Or just when you had too much to drink? Either way, he thought it was kind of adorable.

 

His patience was beginning to wear though and he was contemplating shaking you awake when he heard the sound of a key in the lock coming from the living room. The door to the apartment swung open and Sans heard a male voice call out, “Hey… I’m back!”

 

Shit.

 

Before he could get caught, Sans teleported his ass out of there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took longer than I planned. This chapter was really hard to start for some reason. I know I said that there would be Sans/Reader interaction in this chapter, but it didn't pan out that way. Lol, sorry. But FOR SURE in the next chapter. Which will hopefully be sooner than two weeks from now.
> 
> Also, I got a tumblr. There's nothing there yet, but I may post updates/ramblings. Feel free to bother me there:  
> https://garbagepaisley.tumblr.com/


	5. Chapter Five (Shared POV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as I started to write this chapter, I realized that with the shared perspective I didn't like how the Sans' POV chapters refer to the reader in the 3rd person. So I edited that all so reader is in second person regardless of POV. If you started reading after this chapter was posted, it makes no difference to you but if you've been reading along up to this point you might want to go back and re-read? I don't know.

Chapter 5 – Shared POV

You woke up with a groan when you heard Jack call out to you. Damn, you drank way too much last night. Before you even had a chance to sit up, Jack was in the bedroom, setting his bag on the bed. “You’re still asleep?”

“Drank too much,” you groaned, covering your head with a pillow as Jack pulled the bedroom curtains open.

“Why were you drinking?” he asked, ignoring your pain as he began unpacking his suitcase and tossing dirty clothes in the hamper for you to wash.

“Got into a fight with Olivia,” you told him, finally pulling the pillow off of your face and sitting up. You obviously weren’t allowed to sleep in. Besides, you’d slept really well the night before.

“Again? What this time?” he asked, stopping what he was doing to give you a pointed look. 

“Monsters...” you told him and then suddenly you had a weird feeling. You remember the fight. You were so mad that you finished off an entire bottle of wine. But you also remember… huh. Weird. Did you dream of Sans last night?

“Should have known,” he sighed and went back to unpacking his bag. “You said you weren’t going to pick fights with her about that anymore.”

“I know,” you told him, snuggling under the blankets to avoid the disapproving look he was currently shooting you. “Can you get me a glass of water?” you asked him, hoping to change the subject.

“Get it yourself,” he laughed. “Not my fault you drank too much last night...”

“Fiiiine,” you exaggerated your exasperation as you threw the covers off of yourself.

He laughed at your antics and rolled his eyes, “Okay, fine. I’ll bring you a glass of water. Anything else, your majesty?” he joked as he stood up to leave the room.

“Nope...” you replied cheerfully, pleased that you’d gotten him to do your bidding. You sat up, cracking your back, and decided to help him sort through his suitcase as a thanks. It was still sitting open at the foot of the bed and you began tossing some items in the hamper and setting aside others to take to the dry cleaners. As you went to toss one pair of pants into the dry clean pile, a receipt fell out of the pocket. You pick it up and look at it. From the looks of it, it was a restaurant receipt. Dinner for two. Hmm…

“Hey, what happened to this?” Jack asked, standing at the door. You looked up from the receipt to see him holding a framed picture of the two of you from last Christmas. It was broken.

“No idea...” Your brows knitted in confusion. “I must have gotten up to something weird last night.”

“I’ll say,” Jack chuckled. “You also put your wine bottle in the recycling. First time I’ve ever seen you do that...”

You rolled your eyes. “I clean up after myself...” He gave you a look. “Most of the time.”

“Uh huh...” he smirked. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had someone over here last night. Not often you drink an entire bottle of wine, clean up, and manage to get yourself to bed.”

You rolled your eyes at him. He made it sound like you were incapable of taking care of yourself. “Ha. Ha.” You held up the receipt and tried not to sound paranoid, “You need to keep this?” You would be lying if you said you weren’t curious who he’d been having dinner with.

“Oh...” he took it from your hand quickly. “Yeah. Probably should. Business dinner,” he told her, not explaining any further.

You nodded and kept sorting the clothes. That made sense. He had probably taken some client to dinner to try to sign a deal. He was in the insurance business and that kind of thing was common practice. You weren’t going to be paranoid about the entire thing. You had no reason to be. “You hungry? Maybe we could go get some brunch?”

“I think I’m gonna shower and get some more work done. But maybe you could be a doll and go get some coffee and breakfast for us?” Jack suggested.

You nodded and got out of bed, still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Coffee sounded amazing. You walked over to your dresser and pulled out a fresh change of clothes. “I’m going to use the bathroom first,” you told him, hurrying in before he had a chance to hog it for his shower.

A few minutes later you emerged, with freshly brushed teeth and hair. You still felt hung over, but you knew you’d be all better with coffee and something completely unhealthy. You slipped your shoes on quickly, trying to ignore the nagging feeling you had that you were forgetting something important. “I’ll be back soon,” you told Jack, grabbing your keys and shutting the door behind you.

There was a Starbucks around the corner so your plan was to just pop in and get some coffee and a couple of sandwiches for the both of you. Jack wasn’t a live in boyfriend. He had his own place on the other side of the city but it was nice when he made himself at home in your apartment. Even when he was just working, you liked having him around. There was something about his presence at your place that felt so domestic. By the time she got back with breakfast, he would be showered and working and she could settle in to cuddle with him. Maybe read a nice book in his company.

What a cozy way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 

You were just about to close the door when a hand closed around your arm. With a pop you were gone, out of existence, and before you even had a chance to scream you were standing in a forest. The hand on your arm fell and the owner stepped around your side to face you. “Sans?”

\--

When Sans’ had left your apartment, he’d popped back to Mt. Ebott but couldn’t stop pacing back and forth. He felt uneasy no longer being next to you. He especially hated that you had some guy there. It was bad enough that your bed smelled like the dirt bag. Sans’ knew what that meant and it made his imagination take him to horrible places. Who knew what that bastard was doing to his human at that very moment?

The idea was so upsetting that Sans transported himself back to your apartment. He would just knock. If your boyfriend happened to answer and freak out, he’d figure out what to do then. His hand was raised, just about to make contact with the door when you swung it open. You didn’t even seem to notice him as you shoved your keys into your purse and began to close the door. He knew he couldn’t risk scaring you or getting caught by other humans. Monsters weren’t supposed to be in Ebott City, especially not in the human areas. Were there still the old monster districts or had those been destroyed? He supposed the entire city was human districts now. 

Before you had a chance to look up and notice him, he gripped your arm and teleported you away. The only place he could think to take you was the old castle grounds and he hoped that none of the other monsters had wandered into the area. Toriel would probably murder him if she knew about his little excursion. Hell, he was probably in deep shit already considering he’d been gone all night.

Luckily, when you both popped into existence in the forest, there was no one else around. He let go of your arm and quickly stepped around you to try to calm you down. Chances are that no one would hear you if you had a meltdown, but Sans really didn’t want to traumatize you right off the bat.

“Sans?” you asked as you looked at him with wide eyes.

Sans’ soul gave a pleasant hum at the sound of his name on your lips. “hiya.”

You rushed forward and wrapped your arms around him, lifting him off the ground in a bear hug. “Oh my god, Sans!”

“oof,” Sans grunted, not enjoying the manhandling. It wasn’t the physical contact that he minded. He was thrilled that you were hugging him. What he didn’t like was how easily you’d lifted him off the ground. You were a few inches taller than him already and that hurt his ego. He certainly didn’t want you lifting him off the ground like a sack of potatoes. He was the man here! “mind puttin me down?”

“Sorry,” you squeaked and set him down, but immediately started rubbing his skull. “I’m just so happy to see you!”

He blushed, not pleased that you’d set him down only to treat him like he was a puppy dog. He took your hand off of his head and held it in his own. “same, kiddo.”

Your excitement at seeing him started to wear off and you looked around. Holy shit! You’d teleported. “Where are we? How did we get here? What was that?”

“we’re on mount ebott. just took a little shortcut to get here,” he winked at you.

“God, monsters are so cool,” you gushed, suddenly looking the exact same as you had when you were 10. You plopped down on the ground as you took in your surroundings and patted the ground next to you. You and Sans had a lot of catching up to do!

Sans shuffled over and sat down, his hands back in his pockets. He wasn’t sure what to say to that, but he was happy to know that after everything, her impression of monsters was positive.

“You look good, Sans,” you told him earnestly. He’d gotten taller, though he was far from being tall. He was just a skeleton, you knew, but his features had still somehow matured. His skull was larger and there were slight bags under his eyes. He’s definitely seen shit, you knew but you weren’t going to ask him about all of that now. “I’m really happy you’re alive. I’ve thought about you a lot.”

Before Sans even had a chance to return the compliment of your appearance, you’d already moved on. Would it be awkward if he still told you how beautiful you’d become? The last thing he wanted was to make things weird, so he nodded at you. “same. you look healthy. are you better now?”

You decided not to bring up the fact that your cancer was now back. You didn’t want to worry anyone until you knew what you were going to do about the situation. “Yeah. I got better a year after you left.”

“thats good. i worried about you a lot while we were down there,” Sans admitted.

You smiled and reached for his hand, pulling it out of his pocket so you could give it an appreciative squeeze. “I’m sorry all of that happened. You guys didn’t deserve it.”

Sans shrunk down into his hood. If anyone deserved it, he did. He’d single-handedly killed all of those humans. “s’okay.”

You let the subject drop there. Being forced underground couldn’t have been easy and you didn’t want to bring up all of that bad stuff. You hoped that your friendship would reach a point eventually where you could both talk about everything together, but today was clearly not the day for such heavy topics. Hopefully he’d want the same thing, to rekindle that friendship you’d had before. You thought that he must have wanted that otherwise why had he come to you? Wait… how had he come to you? “Sans?”

“yeah?”

“How did you find me?” you asked, looking over at him.

Sans blushed. He’d never told you that he could see your soul. It would be way too embarrassing to admit now that he knew your soul so well he could find it in a sea of other souls. Besides that, it wasn’t really socially acceptable to be looking at peoples’ souls as much as he’d looked at yours. If any other monster found out how many times and for how long he’d looked at your soul, they’d be horrified. He knew that souls didn’t hold the same significance among humans, but it wasn’t exactly a topic he could just bring up now. How weirded out would you be if you told that he knew your soul that well? 

“magic?” Sans answered, looking away so that you wouldn’t notice his blush or how flustered he felt.

That answer was enough for you and you couldn’t help voicing the same thoughts from earlier, “That is so cool.”

“heh,” was all he said, his voice filled with amusement at your awe.

“Oh! How is Papyrus?” you asked, looking around. As soon as the words left your mouth, you thought maybe his absence was because something terrible had happened to him. It was rare that Sans was without his little brother. You felt awful bringing him up like you had but Sans turned to you with a smile.

“he’s great. i’m sure he’s around here somewhere,” Sans told you. He hadn’t even thought of it, but he was sure that Papyrus was going to be thrilled to see you again. He’d take you right now if he weren’t so desperate to have more time alone with you.

“I can’t wait to see him!” you said excitedly. Then it occurred to you… you were supposed to be getting breakfast. You should probably start heading back so that Jack didn’t worry. “Shoot. I should probably head back now though. Maybe we could have dinner soon? You and Papyrus can come over.” you stood up and dusted off your backside.

Sans scrambled up too. “Uh, how about we go find him now?”

“Oh. I can’t. I was just going out to get some breakfast for me and Jack...” you told Sans, as you gathered your purse up.

Sans could feel a growl working its’ way up his chest. Jack. So that was his name. Like hell he’d just let you go back. The growl didn’t go unnoticed by you. You remember him growling a few times when you were kids. Like a kitten. But as you turned to face him, his expression was dark and decidedly un-feline. You shivered as he stalked towards you.

“Sans?” you questioned quietly, not liking that you felt scared around him.

Sans must have been able to sense your fear because he relaxed immediately and shoved his hands in his pockets in forced nonchalance. “sure. lets get you back,” he said, his smile fixed in place on his face.

You relaxed too, though part of you wondered what gotten into Sans. You didn’t like that he’d gotten so riled up at the drop of a hat. That hadn’t been at all like the Sans you used to know, but you knew you had to give him a break. He had been through a lot in the past fifteen years. You were sure that there were darker parts of him now that you’d just have to get to know. Even if that was the case, he was still familiar to you and you knew that you didn’t have to be scared of him. You wondered if Papyrus also carried wounds. The thought made you sad. “Why don’t you guys come over for dinner tonight?” you asked Sans as he grabbed your arm and got ready to teleport you back.

“sure,” Sans agreed quickly. The less time you had to spend alone with Jack, the better.

Now that that was settled, you felt excited to see Papyrus again. Sans dropped you off in front of your door where he’d grabbed you from earlier. “Thanks,” you told him with a smile. “I’ll see you tonight. Around 7?”

“sounds good. we’ll see you then,” Sans said and vanished again before he could get caught.

You unlocked your door and entered your apartment, forgetting all about breakfast. Not that it mattered, because by the time you got in, you noticed a note from Jack that he’d decided to head home to work instead. You supposed that worked out for the best since you had time to clean and go grocery shopping now. You’d start with Jack’s dirty laundry and then clean up the rest of the apartment. 

As you gathered his laundry up, you wondered what you would have done if Jack was still here. He never really gave his opinion on monsters, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he liked them like you did. Would he have been okay with sitting down to dinner with two skeletons? You weren’t sure. You were kind of glad that Jack was gone so that you didn’t have to worry about it. You would have to feel it out before you introduced your boyfriend to your skeletons. For now, you’d keep them your little secret, you decided as you got to work.


	6. Chapter Six (Reader's POV)

Glass Soul Cage

Chapter 6 

You had gotten your apartment cleaned up by six which left you with an hour to cook before Sans and Papyrus arrived. Which in turn meant that you had no time to go grocery shopping. Crap. You tore apart your kitchen looking for something festive to make for the occasion but all you could find that would be a complete meal was a box of pasta and a jar of Ragu. Welp, spaghetti it was.

You put some music on and got a pot of water boiling for the noodles. You hope they wouldn’t mind such a plain meal. Actually, come to think of it, you wondered if they were even interested in human food. As you try to recall ever seeing them eat, you add the pasta to the pot. Oh well. You didn’t really invite them over for a world class meal. All you really wanted was to enjoy each others’ company tonight.

The doorbell rang just as you finished plating all of the food and placing it on the table in the dining room. What you weren’t expecting when you opened the door was the sight that greeted you. Papyrus must have grown over 7 feet tall! He barely fit through the doorway. “HUMAN!” he said in the same squawking voice you remembered from childhood. He scooped you up into his arms and swung you around. “IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!”

“Papyrus!” You laughed. “Holy crap! You’re a giant now!”

He put you down and stood in a pose with his hands on his hips, “NYEH. YES. THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS TRULY REACHED THE GREAT STATURE I WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO POSSESS!”

You couldn’t help but laugh. He was still the wholesome treasure he always was. “You must have gotten all the height in the family. Sans is a total bean compared to you,” you teased the brothers.

Sans shoved his hands in his pockets, not at all amused that you were making fun of his height. “im not a kid ya know,” he pointed out.

“IT IS BECAUSE HE ONLY EATS GREASY BURGERS AND KETCHUP,” Papyrus informed you.

“Is that so?” you smirked, looking at Sans. Somehow it was cute that he only ate junk food. “Oh why don’t you guys come in and make yourselves comfortable? I’ll just go get us something to drink.”

You turned around and headed into the kitchen but were stopped when you heard a loud gasp. “HUMAN. IS. THIS. SPAGHETTI?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry. It’s all I had. I hope that’s okay,” You told Papyrus.

Suddenly he had orange tears leaking from his eyes. “OH, HUMAN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM SO TOUCHED. YOU MUST TRULY CARE ABOUT ME TO MAKE ME MY FAVORITE MEAL. BUT YOU SEE, HUMAN, WE CAN NEVER BE FOR YOU ARE MY BROTHER’S…”

The sentence was cut off as Sans slapped a hand over his little brother’s mouth. “bro.”

The two shared a look and Sans removed his hand. “UH, FORGIVE ME, HUMAN FRIEND. IT SEEMS I HAVE MADE SOME ASSUMPTIONS.”

You couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Nothing had changed between these two. They were amusing as ever. “Oh, I’m so glad you guys are here.” With a shake of your head, you turned back to the kitchen and grabbed some wine glasses. “Hmm, I swear I had a couple more bottles of wine. Weird...” How much had you had to drink last night?

“’s ok. Me and paps are fine with water,” sans said almost too quickly.

You nodded and poured some water into the wine glasses before carrying them back to the table. You set them down and joined your guests. “So how have you been Papyrus?”

“GREAT AS ALWAYS. I WAS VERY EXCITED TO HEAR THAT SANS FOUND YOU,” Papyrus said, reaching across the table and patting your hand.

You smiled fondly at him. “I was glad to hear you were okay. I still can’t get over how big you are. I remember Sans used to give you piggy-back rides home when you were too tired to walk.”

“NYEH. NOW IT IS I WHO GIVES SANS RIDES WHEN HE IS BEING A LAZY BONES,” Papyrus said.

You put your chin in your hand and turned to Sans, “Is that so? Are you a lazy bones?”

Before Sans could even open his mouth, Papyrus answered for him. “YES! HE IS SO LAZY HE WON’T EVER PICK UP HIS SOCKS NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I ASK!”

You laughed loudly at that. “Sans, why won’t you pick up your socks?”

Sans shrugged, “you see how funny he is when he’s all worked up.”

“BROTHER YOU ARE THE WORST,” Papyrus grumbled, twisting a mess of spaghetti around his fork. He put it in his mouth and you swore that his pupils turned into little hearts. “HUMAN. THIS PASTA!”

“Oh, is it alright?” You blushed. “It’s just sauce from a jar.”

Papyrus dropped his fork and grabbed your hands dramatically. “YOU MUST TEACH ME. OH, AND UNDYNE!”

“Um sure. What’s an Undyne?” you asked with a frown.

“OH YOU WILL LOVE UNDYNE!” Papyrus proclaimed. 

“bro, not sure thats a good idea. Undyne doesnt exactly like humans...” Sans pointed out.

“BUT SURELY OUR MUTUAL LOVE OF SPAGHETTI WILL BRING US ALL TOGETHER,” Papyrus insisted. “I WILL TEXT HER NOW.”

As Papyrus pulled out his phone, you turned to Sans who was watching his brother with a mixture of amusement and adoration. It brought you right back to 15 years ago. “I’m glad he’s still the same. I know it must have been hard for you guys.”

Sans looked over at you and nodded with a sad smile. “yeah. ’s all i could think back then. Makin sure Paps stayed happy.”

“You did a great job,” you assured Sans, reaching over to pat his knee. “he’s really lucky to have such an amazing big brother.”

“thanks,” Sans muttered, his cheeks flushing blue the same way they had when he was shy as a child. 

“I mean it. Not everyone is as lucky as Papyrus,” you continued, thinking of your own relationship with your sister and wishing that it could be even a fraction of what Sans and Papyrus had. Just thinking of your fight with your sister twisted your insides with anger. Speaking of which… “So, where do you stand? Monsters, I mean. Will you guys be allowed in the city soon?”

“dunno. I mean, we’ll be happy anywhere on the surface. Even away from humans...” Sans told you.

“Oh,” You assumed you weren’t included there, because it hurt to think that Sans wouldn’t want anything to do with you. “I hope I’ll still be able to visit.”

“YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT ANYTIME, HUMAN,” Papyrus said, rejoining the conversation.

“Where are you guys staying now?” You hadn’t even thought to ask before.

“uh, some monsters are staying underground for now and the resta us are just sleeping in the forest.”

You blinked, “Like on the ground? That’s horrible! The government hasn’t given you guys tents or anything??” You were traumatized to think of your friends sleeping on the cold ground with bugs crawling all over them all night. First they banished the monsters underground and now they were forcing them to stay in unlivable conditions. The skeleton brothers just shrugged which made you frown. “Oh hell no. You guys are staying here. We can have a sleepover!”

“uh, you sure?” Sans asked. He was all for staying as close to you as possible. In fact, he’d already been planning on coming back and watching you for a while after you fell asleep. But he didn’t want to impose.

“Of course. As long as you don’t leave any socks laying around,” You teased Sans and he blushed. Gosh these skeletons were just the cutest. You laughed, “Aw I missed you guys so much!”

You brought out some pillows and blankets and gave Sans the task of setting up for the sleepover party while Papyrus helped you with the dishes.

“HUMAN, I AM VERY GLAD YOU ARE WELL. IT IS NICE TO SEE YOU WITH SUCH BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS HAIR,” Papyrus complimented you as he dried the dishes while you washed.

You laughed, “Thanks Papyrus. I’m glad you guys are well too. I’ve thought about you both so many times over the years.”

“ME AND SANS AS WELL. YOU SEE, SANS WAS NOT DOING SO WELL WHEN WE FIRST WENT UNDERGROUND. OR REALLY AT ALL. HE STOPPED CARING. BUT TONIGHT I CAN TELL HIS SOUL IS MUCH LIGHTER,” Papyrus told you carefully. You could tell this was hard to talk about.

“I’m glad. I really missed him,” You told your old friend. “I’ve always considered Sans kind of like my first love.” It was a silly thing to admit.

“REALLY?” Papyrus perked up at that.

“Yeah,” you laughed. “He was my first kiss too...”

Papyrus looked almost scandalized and you laughed at his orange blush. That was the first time you’d seen the younger brother look so frazzled. “WOWIE...”

“watcha guys talkin about?”

You turned to see Sans leaning against the doorway, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Oh, I think I told Papyrus a secret I wasn’t supposed to.”

“yeah?”

You laughed, “Yeah, I told him you were my first kiss...”

Sans froze and every visible bone on his body turned blue. “y-you didnt...”

“What’s the big deal? We were kids,” you laughed it off.

Sans and Papyrus shared another mysterious look. “AHEM. I NEED TO GO BRUSH MY TEETH...” Papyrus sprinted and did a flip right over Sans who was like a statue in the doorway.

“Did I do something wrong?” You asked Sans, tilting your head in confusion.

“no,” Sans said, trying to compose himself. 

“Really?” you said, not entirely sure that you believed Sans based on how they were both behaving.

“yeah, hes fine. Come on, ive got the living room all set up,” Sans grabbed your hand and led you back to the living room where there were spots for three all laid out.

You blushed at the sight. You had been planning on sleeping in your bed like usual and letting the boys camp out in the living room. Would it embarrass Sans to tell him that? You had told them it would be a sleepover, afterall. And sleepovers usually implied everyone sleeping together. No big deal. “Looks cozy,” you told him.

“I’M READY FOR BED,” Papyrus announced as he reemerged from the bathroom.

“cool. Got any bedtime stories?” Sans asked.

“Uh...” you walked over to your bookshelf as you noticed Papyrus getting comfortable under the covers. “Will Stephen King work?” you had plenty of those but you were mostly teasing. And from the unimpressed look Sans gave you, you got exactly the response you’d been hoping for. “Okay. How about Harry Potter?”

“THAT SOUNDS WONDERFUL,” PAPYRUS SAID. “I’D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THE POTTER NAMED HARRY.”

“Oh my gosh,” you froze. “Have you never read Harry Potter?” Both Sans and Papyrus shook their heads. “Get comfy boys...” you grinned.

\------

 

Papyrus had struggled to stay awake because he was enjoying the story so much but after ten chapters, he finally gave in to sleep. You put the book down, finding yourself sandwiched between the skeleton brothers. You felt nervous all of a sudden, but you weren’t sure why exactly. Yes, you were basically alone with Sans. Alone and vertical with Sans. Alone and vertical with Sans, your first love. Awkward.

Even more awkward was the feeling of his gaze on you as you tried to work through your feelings. The best thing to do would be to just close your eyes and go to sleep. “Night Sans,” you said, turning on your side, facing away from him.

“night.” you heard him say and after some shuffling it grew quiet. You lay there on your side for what felt like hours and tried not to overthink things. But that was very hard to do when you felt Sans’ boney arm slide around your waist. And then you felt guilty for enjoying the way he curled his body flush against your back. It was because you were glad he was alive and safe, you told yourself. You weren’t really enjoying it. Nope. Nope not at all. You told yourself that repeatedly from the time you felt something warm and firm pressed against your backside until you fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, so its been almost two months. I'd like to say I've been really busy and give some really good excuse. But... I have no excuses other than that I've been lazy and uninspired. 
> 
> I've started a new Undertale fic that has given me a burst of inspiration and I'd really appreciate it if you guys would give it a read too. :)
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/19401514/chapters/46170571
> 
> I can't make any promises but hoping that if I stay inspired, I can add one chapter to each fic per week. Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this chapter! I'd like to get something set up so I can interact with you all and so that you can poke me when I get lazy so if you have any ideas, let me know :)


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